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He brought an end to his 14-year association with Albion at the end of 2016 because the takeover felt like a ‘natural moment for parting’.

But he’s returned to steady the ship after his successor Martin Goodman was sacked alongside chairman John Williams and will now run the club until the end of the season.

Whether he’s Guochuan Lai’s knight in shining armour, or merely a stop-gap until the summer, remains to be seen.

Jenkins first joined Albion in October 2002 as a finance director and was promoted to chief executive four years later.

He was former owner Jeremy Peace’s right hand man, and helped establish the club in the Premier League. Ten of his previous 14 seasons at the club were spent in the top tier.

Owner Guochuan Lai was eager to keep Jenkins at the club following his purchase of the club, because he wanted as much continuity from the stable product he was buying as possible.

Although Jenkins has come back, the club have waved away the possibility of Peace returning to the fold in any capacity and insist that Lai remains committed to keeping hold of his 88 per cent controlling stake.

"There is much to do but for now the focus must solely be on the remaining games of this season," said Jenkins.